(Bloomberg) -- Banco BTG Pactual SA, the biggest independent investment bank in Latin America, is close to a deal to acquire Julius Baer Group Ltd.’s Brazil unit, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The price for the business, which has about 70 billion reais ($11.5 billion) in assets under management and under custody, could reach about 1 billion reais, people said last month. The goal is to come to an agreement as soon as this month, those people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential talks. The negotiations are ongoing and could still fall apart.
Other banks that had shown interest include Banco Santander Brasil SA, XP Inc. and Banco Safra SA, according to the people.
Julius Baer opened an office in Brazil in 2005 and after that bought two of the biggest family offices in the nation, GPS and Reliance, merging the firms in February 2020 and creating an entity that now has around 300 employees.
BTG has a multifamily office business with more than 40 billion reais in assets under management, and Julius Baer’s business could be combined with this strategy, the people said.
Representatives for BTG and Julius Baer declined to comment on a possible combination.
O Globo columnist Lauro Jardim reported earlier Monday that BTG was close to an agreement for the unit.
Julius Baer hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to seek buyers for the operation, people familiar with the matter said in November, a move that could help the Swiss bank right its footing after some high-profile setbacks.
The company initially struggled to regain investor confidence after its exposure to Austrian tycoon Rene Benko’s crumbling property empire sent the shares tumbling. The stock has since been gaining ground and is up about 24% in the past 12 months, compared with a 4.5% increase for the Swiss Market Index.
The company sold €500 million ($520 million) of new debt in September in its first euro bond sold to international investors since former Chief Executive Officer Philipp Rickenbacher left the bank.
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